JP2958180B2 - High pressure gas filling method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for filling a cylinder with a high-pressure gas such as natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-935 discloses this type of method.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 98 is known. This device connects a carry-in path and a carry-out path to a turntable, provides an electronic scale (load cell) in each path, and provides a flow meter and a multi-filler (gas supply device) for each of a plurality of container mounting portions provided on the turntable. Is arranged, and the gas filling amount is calculated and filled for each container.

[0003]

According to the method disclosed in the above publication,
It is necessary for the operator to transfer the cylinder onto the electronic balance of each path, and it is necessary to manually attach and detach the gas supply to the cylinder valve. Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-275200, the gas supply device is manually connected to the valve, and there has been a problem that the gas charging operation has not been fully automated yet.

According to the present invention, gas filling is fully automated,
In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a high-safety high-pressure gas charging method in which closing of a valve after charging is ensured.

[0005]

A solution according to the present invention is to transfer a cylinder to a filling station in a supply step, perform a centering step of setting the cylinder in the center of the filling station, and then move the cylinder from the transfer path. The ascending process of floating by the elevating rod is performed, and then the cylinder is rotated to perform a valve direction correcting process with the valve port facing the gas supply, where the nozzle of the gas supply is connected to the valve port, and the valve is opened. After supplying the gas, the valve port is closed, the gas is lowered to the transfer path, and the gas is transferred to the discharge side.

Before the cylinder is raised, a step of determining the type of the cylinder is performed based on the height of the cylinder, and the gas supply device is moved to a position near the valve height based on the height information obtained in the step. It is characterized by.

After the cylinder is lifted, an empty weight measurement step of measuring and recording an empty weight value including the residual gas and the tare of the cylinder is performed. It is characterized in that an amount obtained by subtracting the empty weight value from the weight is supplied.

After moving the gas feeder to the vicinity of the valve height, an upper centering step of setting the upper part of the cylinder at the center of the filling station is performed.

In the method, the gas supply device is moved to the valve height by the information obtained in the step of detecting the valve height of the cylinder which has risen.

According to a feature of the present invention, a step of reading a bar code attached to the cylinder is performed based on information of the direction correcting step of the cylinder and the valve height detecting step.

In the opening step of opening the valve of the cylinder, the valve is once closed and its height is detected, and then the valve is opened.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 1 and an apparatus shown in FIG. 2. The processing steps for filling are largely divided into lower processing steps, upper processing steps, and post-processing steps. Can be

The lower processing step is: (A) a step of supplying an empty cylinder to a gas filling station by a transfer path by a conveyor. (B) A step of determining the type of the empty cylinder by its height before reaching the filling station. (C) A step of stopping the empty cylinder at the filling station and then centering the lower part of the empty cylinder so as to be located at the center thereof. (D) A step of raising an empty cylinder from above the transfer path. (E) A step of measuring the weight of the empty cylinder, including the tare and the remaining amount of gas.

In the step (A) of supplying an empty cylinder through the transfer path, a standby station 2 for waiting for an empty cylinder 1 to be processed in the next period is provided on the insertion side of the transfer path. It is transferred to the filling station 4.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the transfer path 3 is formed by a pair of left and right slat conveyors. When the empty cylinder 1 is conveyed to the filling station 4 and stopped, the feeding speed is gradually reduced. Control to stop. This control prevents the empty cylinder 1 from falling or swinging.

In the step (B) of determining the type of empty cylinder, there are cylinders of different heights, large, medium and small, and these types are processed in a mixed state. The movement command is issued to set the supply device 5 to a position near the height of the valve 6 of the cylinder. This step (B) is preferably performed on the empty cylinder 1 existing in the standby station 2 of the transfer path 3 described above.
This information enables prompt handling of each type of cylinder in a later upper processing step. When only one type of cylinder is targeted, this type determination is unnecessary.

In this step (B), as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4,
If four types of cylinders are to be processed, three transmission-type optical fiber sensors 7 to 9 are placed on the side of the transfer path 3 above the shoulders of the cylinders having different heights. The cylinders 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d are sensed as described below in the vertical direction so as to be transmitted through the parts. The smallest cylinder 1a (filled amount of about 10 kg) is determined when all the sensors 7 to 9 are ON. Medium small cylinder 1b
The determination (filling amount: about 20 kg) is determined by turning off the first sensor 7 and turning on the other sensors 8 and 9. The middle cylinder 1c (filled amount of about 30 kg) is determined when the first and second sensors 7 and 8 are OFF and the other sensors 9 are ON.
The maximum cylinder 1d (filling amount: about 50 kg) is determined when all the sensors 7 to 9 are OFF.

Centering process (C) of lower part of empty cylinder 1
Is a step for correcting the empty cylinder 1 placed on the transfer path 3 even if the empty cylinder 1 is placed on the transfer path 3 in a biased state. Along with
It can be automatically transferred from a transport path (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, the lower centering means for performing this step is arranged so that the columns 10, 10 are opposed to each other on both sides of the transfer path 3 at the same distance by the racks 11, 11 and the pinion 12. And substrates 13, 13, which are parallel to the columns 10, are provided on the respective columns 10, 10 so as to be vertically slid by cylinders 14, and are parallel to each other above and below the substrate 13. Rotors 16 are provided at the respective ends of the protruding forked arms 15 so as to rotate on the upright shaft, that is, horizontally. Therefore, after the empty cylinder 1 sent by the transfer path 3 stops at the filling station 4, the racks 11, 11 and the pinion 12 move the two columns 10, 10 in a direction in which they come close to each other. Even if it is deviated from the center of the cylinder 4, the empty cylinder 1 is
The correction is performed in the −Y direction and the correction is held at the center.

The step (D) of raising the empty cylinder 1 above the transfer path simplifies the subsequent steps.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the cylinder 17 is vertically driven from between the two conveyors of the transfer path 3, and its rod is connected to the lifting rod 1.
A rotatable cylinder 19 is rotatably provided at the upper end of the elevating rod 18 so as to cope with the elevating and rotating of the empty cylinder 1. In addition, the substrates 13 and 13 of the position correcting means are also raised together by the driving of the cylinder 14 as they move up and down, and hold the empty cylinder 1 raised by the position correcting means upright.

Step (E) of measuring the weight of the empty cylinder 1
Is performed by weight measuring means as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6.
The cylinder 17 of the elevating means is fixed on the load cell 20.

The upper processing step is: (F) a cylinder upper centering step. (G) Valve height detection step of empty cylinder. (H) A valve direction correcting step of changing the direction of the valve of the empty cylinder to a predetermined direction. (I) A step of reading a barcode label attached to an empty cylinder. (J) connecting the nozzle of the gas supply device to the valve port. (K) Valve opening / gas filling process. (L) closing the valve;

The above upper processing step is performed by lowering the head 21 provided with the following means.

The upper centering step (F) of the cylinder is performed only for a few kinds of tall cylinders by the upper centering means, in which the cylinder is prevented from swaying and the valve of the cylinder is set at the center of the filling station. After the setting, the gas supply device 5 is securely connected to the valve 6.

The step (G) of detecting the valve height of the empty cylinder includes:
This is a step for surely performing the subsequent steps (H) to (L).

The head 21 is, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 7,
The head 21 is moved up and down on the filling station 4 by a vertical movement mechanism 22 (see FIG. 2), and the height of the cylinder 21 is raised by the information of the type discriminating means described in the step (B). In response to the above, the centering step (F) of the upper part of the cylinder is performed at the same time as the lowering is rapidly performed to the vicinity of the height and the primary stop is performed, and thereafter the lowering is controlled to be performed slowly.

The upper centering means comprises four rotors 23 (two on each side) vertically provided on both sides of the tip of the head 21.
Of the lower centering means are provided so as to be brought into contact with and separated from each other by a rack and a pinion (not shown) in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the rotors 16 of the lower centering means come to the left and right.

Since the valve position detecting means is related to the valve opening / closing means which will be described later, it will be described together.
1, a shelf 24 is provided, and an upright cylinder 25 is fixed to the center of the shelf 24 so as to be driven downward, while a rotating shaft 27 is vertically mounted on the head 21 so as to face the upright cylinder 25 vertically. The rotating cylinder 27 is suspended while being vertically suspended and rotatably supported.
A spring 26 that rises and returns after being lowered at 5 is interposed between the rotating shaft 27 and the upright cylinder 25, penetrates the detecting rod 28 in the rotating shaft 27, and connects the detecting rod 28 to the upright cylinder 25. A vertically detecting hole (not shown) is formed in the piston rod of the piston rod so as to penetrate the upright cylinder 25 so as to be vertically movable. A height detecting sensor 29 composed of a linear gauge is fixed above the detecting rod 28 so as to face each other. Further, a pair of upper and lower light-transmitting slow-motion command sensors 30 and a stop command sensor 31 are projected between the height sensor 29 and the upper end of the detection rod 28 in a state where the light beams are lowered. It is provided as follows.

Therefore, as described above, when the head 21 descends early at first, and then slowly descends, the lower end of the detection rod 28 hits the center of the handle of the valve and then the head 21 further descends. Stops. As a result, the detection rod 28 relatively rises.
Is further slowed down, and then the light beam of the stop command sensor 31 is blocked, whereby the lowering of the head 21 is stopped. That is, the secondary stop is performed. In accordance with the height detection information, the direction detector 32 for performing the valve direction correcting step (H) is commanded to descend and the empty cylinder 1 is commanded to rotate.

As shown in FIG. 5, the rotation of the empty cylinder 1 is performed by driving a roller 33 provided at an intermediate portion of one of the arms 15 of the lower centering means by a motor 34 so that the lower centering is performed. Roller 3 at the same time
Numeral 3 is pressed against the cylinder and drives the motor 34 to rotate the cylinder.

The direction detecting body 32 has a cylindrical shape as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
5 is provided so as to be vertically moved by a cylinder 36 while penetrating the rotation shaft 27, and the rotation plate 2
7 penetrates. Moreover, the direction detector 3
2, two optical fiber sensors 37a, 37b, 3
7c is projected on both sides of the cylinder valve as shown in FIG.
On the other hand, it is arranged so as to project across the 6 ports of the valve.
Is not in the normal direction, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the state in which the bulb intersects with the light beam is incorrect. At this time, the roller 33 is driven to rotate the cylinder to correct the direction.

Next, the step (I) of reading the bar code is performed by the bar code reader 38. As shown in FIG.
Is provided so as to swing by a cylinder 68. The barcode contains various information, such as the customer number, size, tare weight, and expiration date of the cylinder. A command to stop filling is issued. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the gas supply process is performed for the gas within the expiration date of the cylinder, but if the gas expiration date has passed, the upper centering is released and the head 21 is raised. From the empty cylinder 1 to the filling station 4
It is designed to send out more.

After the barcode reading step (I) is completed, the direction detecting sensor 32 is raised.

Next, a step (J) of connecting the gas supplier to the valve port is performed. The gas supply device 5 used in this step (J) uses a commercially available gas supply device.
A hook 39 protrudes from the tip of the gas supply device 5,
The hook 39 and the nozzle 40 move forward and backward in the opposite directions by operating a changeover switch (not shown) provided on the rear side of a built-in air cylinder (not shown). The tip of the gas supply device 5 is inserted horizontally into the girdle (there may be none) around the valve mounting position, and the gas supply device 5 is shaken sideways and the hook 39 is moved to the back side of the valve. By hooking and driving the air cylinder to retract the hook 39, the nozzle 40 moves forward and presses into the valve opening.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 10, the means for performing the connecting step (J) is moved forward and backward by a vertical cylinder 42 toward the filling station 4 on a fixed plate 41 provided on the base side of the head 21. A vertical sliding plate 43 is provided, and on the back surface of the vertical sliding plate 43, an arc guide 44 having a center at the center of the filling station 4 and near the valve opening is provided, and along the arc guide 44, The gas supply device 5 may be directly attached to the holding plate 46 which slides on the horizontal cylinder 45. However, in order to allow the gas supply device 5 to move slightly back and forth, the holding plate 46 is used.
An auxiliary plate 47 is slidably provided, urged forward by a spring 48, and a forward position is regulated by a stopper 49. Providing the core of the arc guide 44 near the valve opening has an advantage that the angle of swinging the gas supply device 5 to the side becomes smaller.

Therefore, when connected to the valve, the gas supply device 5 is initially in an inclined state as shown in FIG.
From this state, the vehicle is advanced by the vertical cylinder 42 as shown in FIG. This advance causes the hook 39 of the gas supply device 5 to protrude to the side of the cylinder valve. Next, by driving the horizontal cylinder 45, the gas supply device 5 slides along the arc guide 44 and moves linearly as shown in FIG. 13, whereby the hook 39 is hooked on the back surface of the valve. Then, by driving the cylinder in the gas supply unit 5, the valve is sandwiched between the hook 39 and the nozzle 40, and the nozzle 40 is press-fitted into the valve opening. However, the cylinder valve has not been opened yet, and is waiting for gas supply.

Following the above steps, a valve opening / gas filling step (K) is performed. When opening the valve, the valve is closed for the time being, but the closed state is different for each cylinder, such as those that are strongly tightened or those that are lightly tightened. It is necessary for safety to tighten to Therefore, when opening the valve, once the valve is completely closed, its height is detected and memorized, and then the valve is opened and the required amount of gas is filled. It is controlled by a calculation of subtracting the value in the empty cylinder weight measuring step (E) from the allowable gas filling amount of the information obtained in the cylinder type determining step (B) or the bar code reading step (I).

After filling as described above, the step (L) of closing the valve is performed, and the valve is closed so as to reach the previously detected height.

The mechanism for opening and closing the valve is, as shown in FIG.
7 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by a motor 50, and a disc 5 made of an elastic material is pressed against the lower end of the rotating shaft 27 on the upper surface of the handle of the valve.
1 is provided. Further, the height when the valve is closed is determined by a detection rod 28 and a height detection sensor 29. That is, after the disk 51 is pressed against the upper surface of the handle of the valve by the upright cylinder 25, the motor 50 is driven to rotate the disk 51 through the rotary shaft 27 to tighten the valve. The height of the valve at the time of the tightening is detected by the height detection sensor 29, and the value is set to “0”. Then, the motor 50 is driven in reverse to open the valve.

As described above, after the valve is opened and the gas is supplied in a controlled amount as described above, the step (L) of closing the valve is performed. The value of the detection sensor 29 is closed to a height of “0”.

The post-processing step after the controlled gas amount is filled as described above includes the step of (M) removing the gas supply device. (N) A step of releasing the upper centering of the cylinder. (O) A step of measuring the weight of the filling cylinder. (P) A step of lowering the cylinder that has been supported. (Q) A step of releasing the centering of the lower part of the cylinder. (R) A step of discharging a filled cylinder and supplying an empty cylinder. Are sequentially performed.

After the step (M) of retracting and removing the gas supply device 5 (M), the step (N) of releasing the upper centering of the cylinder is performed by the left and right rotors 2 of the upper centering.
3 is retracted in the direction away from the cylinder and is released.
(O) is performed. In addition, the measurement detects whether the amount of the filling cylinder 52 is right or wrong, and if the amount is wrong, the subsequent steps are stopped. However, if it is normal, the cylinder supported by the ascent is placed on the transfer path 3 by the step of descending (P), and the step of releasing the lower centering (Q) is performed. While transferring to
The step (R) of sending the empty cylinder 1 from the standby station 2 to the filling station 4 is performed. If the above-described cylinder type determination step (B) is performed in the standby station 2 of the transfer path 3, if the head 21 is raised to a position slightly higher than the height of the cylinder and is on standby, then the head 21 is lowered. The distance for filling is small and the processing time for filling is reduced.

By using the means for carrying out the above method, for example, a processing apparatus shown in FIG. 14 in which gas filling is completely automated can be constituted. That is, the treatment plant 53
Inside, a loading section 54 such as a truck, an empty cylinder storage section 55 having a number of conveyors arranged side by side, a plurality of gas filling sections 5
6 and a filling cylinder storage unit 5 having a number of conveyors arranged side by side
7 and a discharge unit 58 such as a truck, and a plurality of filling devices 59 configured to carry out the above method are provided in parallel in the gas filling unit 56. , A gas filling section 56, and a filling cylinder storage section 57, in that order.
Connect at 1,62.

Further, the empty cylinder storage 55
A cylinder type detection device 63 is provided in the middle of the T-shaped first conveyor 60 leading to the above, and is stored in the empty cylinder storage unit 55 for each type according to the detected type. Also,
A cylinder type discriminating device 64 and a cap removing device 65 for removing a cap from a cylinder valve are provided in an L-shaped second conveyor 61 that connects the storage portion 55 and the gas filling portion 56. It should be noted that the cylinder type discriminating device 64 performs the empty cylinder type discriminating step (B) in the above-described method, and the filling cylinder storing section 57 stores the information for each type of conveyor according to the information.

Next, on the opposite side of the second conveyor 61, the filling cylinder 52 sent out from the gas filling section 56 is passed through the third conveyor 62 extending to the filling cylinder storage section 57 following the U-shaped portion. Filling cylinder storage 57
In the meantime, a label attaching device 66 for attaching a label to the filling cylinder 52, a plug attaching device 67 for fitting a protective plug into a valve port, and a cap attaching device 68 for covering a cap covering the valve are interposed therebetween. . Then, a configuration is adopted in which a cylinder is loaded on a truck from the filled cylinder storage unit 57 and shipped.

[0047]

According to the high-pressure gas filling method of the present invention, a) Since the cylinder is centered at the filling station, the accuracy of the position to be placed on the transfer path when supplying an empty cylinder to the transfer path is required. And the mounting work becomes easier. B) Since the cylinder is rotated after being raised at the filling station and the valve of the cylinder is opposed to the nozzle of the gas supply device, the cylinder can be easily rotated and can be surely and accurately opposed. Further, the weight can be easily measured by raising the cylinder.

C) By discriminating the type of cylinder before ascending the cylinder, the height of the cylinder valve can be detected, and the information can be used to roughly set the position set by the gas supply device. Will be able to respond.

D) The weight of an empty cylinder is measured after it is lifted, and the weight can be easily and automatically measured by connecting the lifting rod to an instrument such as a load cell.

E) After the empty cylinder is raised, the height of the valve is detected, and the information can be used to surely face the gas supply device to the valve. Even if they are mixed, gas filling is performed correspondingly.

F) Since the height of the valve is detected after the empty cylinder is raised, and the bar code reader can be set at a predetermined position based on the information, the information on the cylinder can be easily detected from the bar code. , It is possible to take appropriate measures according to the information.

G) When the valve is opened, the valve is closed and its height is detected once, the gas is filled after opening again, and when the valve is subsequently closed, the valve is closed to the previously detected height. Therefore, even if the closed state of the valve of the empty cylinder happens to be incomplete, it is securely closed after filling and the safety is enhanced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a process sequence of a high-pressure gas filling method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example of a filling apparatus for performing the steps of the high-pressure gas filling method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a transfer path of the filling device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a means for determining the type of cylinder.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a means for centering the lower part of the cylinder.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a means for raising an empty cylinder and a means for measuring its weight.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an outline of the structure of the head.

FIG. 8A is an explanatory diagram showing a normal state in a detection state of the direction detection sensor. FIG. 2B is a front view of the valve in a normal state in the detection state of the direction detection sensor. (C) is a side view of the valve in a normal state when the direction detection sensor detects the state.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the direction detection sensor detects an illegal state at all times.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an outline of a connecting means to a valve of the gas supply device.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a state in which the connecting means for the valve of the gas supply device is on standby.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a state in which the connecting means with respect to the valve of the gas supply device is advanced.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a state in which the connecting means is connected to the valve of the gas supply device.

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing an example of a processing apparatus which implements the high-pressure gas filling method of the present invention and automates from carrying in a cylinder to shipping.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Empty cylinder 2 Stand-by station 3 Transfer path 4 Filling station 5 Gas supply device 6 Cylinder valve 18 Lifting rod 21 Head

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Akira Takaguchi Tateyama Machine Co., Ltd., No. 30, Oyama-cho, Kamishinkawa-gun, Toyama Prefecture Inside Tateyama Machine Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hidenori Umehara 30 Shimono, Oyama-cho, Kamishinkawa-gun, Toyama Prefecture Inside Tateyama Machine Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-3-186699 (JP, A) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) F17C 5/02

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cylinder is transferred to a filling station in a supply step (A) and a centering step (C) of setting the cylinder at the center of the filling station is performed, and then the cylinder is lifted up from a transfer path by an elevating rod. The ascending step (D) is performed, and then the cylinder is rotated to perform a valve direction correcting step (H) in which the valve port faces the gas supply, where the nozzle of the gas supply is connected to the valve port, and the valve port is connected. A high-pressure gas filling method, characterized in that after opening and supplying gas, the valve port is closed, lowered into a transfer path and transferred to a discharge side. 2. A step (B) of determining the type of the cylinder based on the height of the cylinder before raising the cylinder, and moving the gas supply device to a position near the valve height based on the information. The high-pressure gas filling method according to claim 1, wherein 3. The high-pressure gas according to claim 1, wherein an empty weight measuring step (E) of measuring and recording an empty weight value including the residual gas of the cylinder and the tare is performed after the cylinder rises. Filling method. 4. An upper centering step (F) of placing the upper part of the cylinder at the center of the filling station after moving the gas supply unit to the vicinity of the valve height. Or the high-pressure gas filling method according to 3. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the step (G) of detecting the raised cylinder cylinder height, the gas feeder is moved to the valve height according to the information obtained in the step. 5. The high-pressure gas filling method according to 4. 6. A step (I) for reading a bar code attached to the cylinder after the step (H) for correcting the direction of the cylinder that has risen and the step (G) for detecting the valve height. Item 7. A high-pressure gas filling method according to Item 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. 7. The valve according to claim 1, wherein in the opening step (K) for opening the valve of the cylinder, the valve is temporarily closed and its height is detected, and then the valve is opened.
7. The high-pressure gas filling method according to 4, 5, or 6.